Abstract: | Directed percolation problems have a long history, and have been resistant to finding exact solutions.
Here I shall present a theory for elution from a random medium, concentrating on cases where the flow is forced in one direction. Compared to the standard directed percolation problem, the model is a more faithful representation of the physics because it respects mass conservation of flow through a medium.
I argue that the elution process can be slow, with a power-law decay of the concentration of the eluted substance. I shall discuss in detail a model for this process which is exactly solvable, and explore the relationship between this model and standard models for directed percolation.
The talk is based upon recent collaborations, including results obtained with Kyle Kawagoe, Greg Huber, Alain Pumir, Mar Pradas and Eli Ben-Naim. |